Housing Headlines

To gauge how its members are responding to the COVID-19 health crisis, the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations did a survey in July and found that more than two-thirds of its respondents provided food assistance. The survey also found that more than half of CDCs worked with community members to secure assistance to cover rent or mortgage payments and over half helped small businesses obtain financial assistance.

The Housing Assistance Corporation of Cape Cod (HAC) has launched a new online application to make it easier for Cape and Island residents to fill out one form to apply for different public and private rental assistance and mortgage relief programs. HAC has more than $1.5 million to distribute, including funds from the state's Residential Assistance for Families and the new Emergency Rental Assistance and Mortgage Assistance Programs.

The Obama era fair housing law that President Trump and housing secretary Ben Carson ended last month is not the top-down, diversify-the-suburbs-or-else requirement Trump is making it out to be,local housing experts say. "It was very mild," said Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council. Added Rachel Heller of the Citizens' Housing and Planning Association: It was a tool to spark conversations "about why a community is the way it is."

HUDSON --- Town officials are moving to draft a warrant that would ask voters at fall town meeting to declare the former policy station surplus property and transfer ownership to the town's housing trust so it can issue guidelines to attract developers who would build affordable housing.

BOSTON --- Plans by the Pine Street Inn and The Community Builders to build 62 affordable apartments and 140 studio units for the homeless have hit a snag as the landlord of a building across the street has challenged the city's zoning decision, saying the five-story project will hurt business at Turtle Swamp Brewing.

WORCESTER --- A bid by a real estate company to have the option of developing former Main South mills into housing cleared another hurdle as the city's planning board OK'd a petition to have the properties rezoned to allow housing. A lawyer for Consigli Real Estate Holdings of Hopedale said his client is pursuing the change in order to build about 60 units of housing. The petition now goes to the city council for final approval.